Asking for a Friend! 🙂

I could use a bit of "spiritual guidance" here……this is a bit over my paygrade.

Friend has a Savage 22-250, bought from someone that had issues with it.

It seems to reach high pressure with 55 grain bullets long before it should, also pretty poor groups. He has cleaned it almost to the point of barrel wear. I talked him into hand lapping the barrel. Continued shooting and cleaning showed no improvement.

He tried some 50 grain bullets and got this……
file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/88/08/31D60F66-78BC-4F2E-87E9-707067D48F76/IMG_0164.HEIC

The bullets often appearing to "keyhole', which would indicate them as "unstable"……but the 55's were stable, just poor groups.

I finally convinced him to "slug" the barrel……which may now require several visits with a psychiatrist, as he was very concerned about pusing a little soft, lead through the bore.

He finally caved to pressure, slugged the bore and found. From the breach-end the first 5 or so inches appeared to be 0.221" to 0.222" …..then reduced resistance appearing to be about 0.223".

To me, this could account for the high pressure at lower end powder volumes. And perhaps, the jackets of the 50's was thin enough that the jacket was starting to rupture/split/cut…..causing bullet "instability"

Any thoughts from the "brain trust"? Please keep the responses at a "grade school" level to help me grasp the thoughts/theories!

Thanks for any and all help! memtb

Speeds for the 55's?

dogz said:

Speeds for the 55's?

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Don't remember…..but, I know that he was well below listed book maximum loads.

He's a pretty experienced hand loader/shooter……but this is kicking his butt!

It's a Savage, so……..the easy fix is just screw on a new barrel. But, that won't tell him what's going on.

I'm guessing that the barrel is already a "jack handle"…..but, I love to hear what you guys think! memtb

Rebarrel it and it's fixed.

Without knowing the speed it's any bodies guess...

Fixed doesn't answer the questions. Inquiring Minds ya know.

I'll see if he chrono'd it! memtb

Hey, do you or your friend have access to a bore scope?
Take Care

Talk to VinceMule.
Sounds like a "trombone" barrel, infamous for poor accuracy.
A tad tighter at the muzzle is jackpot, assuming quality is good along the way.
He's helpful for certain.

Ricky C said:

Hey, do you or your friend have access to a bore scope?
Take Care

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No sir……not I anyway! I'll talk with him tomorrow……but, I'm guess'n nada! memtb

Phil Rizzo said:

Talk to VinceMule.
Sounds like a "trombone" barrel, infamous for poor accuracy.
A tad tighter at the muzzle is jackpot, assuming quality is good along the way.
He's helpful for certain.

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If my bud is correct with his work……tight for about 5" in from the breech, and a bit larger toward the muzzle. memtb

Gives it a little room to rattle around down stream..!?

Unfortunately this 'measurement' using a slug of lead means very little…

When I hand lap a fresh barrel, even if the maker has done so first, I will often, not always, get a tight condition near the chamber which smooths out. This is because the slug is often deformed by minute burrs from the chamber being cut, not a tight then loose barrel bore.
The tightness, even with a button-rifled barrel, is nothing more than roughness in the bore. Burrs are frequently the cause of many problems with accuracy, if it tears jackets up, then poor accuracy/precision results.
Further investigation is required, it just may be a chamber cut eccentric to the bore, jacket engagement thicker on one side will distort bullet jackets to the point of instability and may even rip them apart due to yaw…

Cheers.

Honestly, I don't normally go straight to the 'pony up money to solve the issue' approach, but in the case of all of the unknowns (used rifle, purchased with a known issue, inconsistent bore diameter, etc), and because it is a savage, I would be inclined to rebarrel it, even with an $80 used barrel of of another savage before I would invest any more time or effort into that one. Especially when the issue is creating pressure. that is one of the mysteries that can hurt you.

I read through the problem twice and I'm pretty sure the following isn't going to help but here goes anyway. I just bought a Remington Model 783 .308 heavy barrel. Note - Remington isn't Remington anymore, but it shoots and it serves my purpose (prefit barrels work). I used David Tubb's final finish bullets on it after cleaning it the first time. I'm not sure breaking it in "normally" wouldn't have worked just as well but the end result, ie before / after borescope checks, the final finish system sure made a difference. It shoots good for a stubby little barrel and it's a lot easier to clean.